alga] 



QLty Cr*a£urg of Ufltaug. 



38 



ALIBOUFIER. (Fr.) Sif/racc officinale,. 



ALISIER. (Fr.) Pyrus Aria. — ,DE 

 FONTAINEBLEAU. Cratcegus or Storms 

 hit! Mia. — ,TRANCHANT or DES BOIS. 

 Pyrus torminalis. 



ALISMA. A family of aquatic plants, 

 characterised by the parallel veins of their 

 leaves, and their unimportant flowers of 

 three lilac petals. A. Plantago grows com- 

 monly in still water, and bears large 

 smooth, taper-pointed root-leaves on long 

 stalks. These are thought to have some 

 resemblance to the leaves of the plantain ; 

 and hence its name. The stem, which is 

 leafless, is bluntly triangular, from two to 

 three feet high, much branched in its 

 upper part, and bearing numerous flowers 

 in a loose pyramidal panicle or irregular 

 clustor. The flowers, though not con- 

 spicuous, are singular from the unusual 

 number of their petals ; and the light 

 spray-like subdivision of their stalks, 

 joined to the vigorous habit of the leaves, 

 claim for the plant a place among orna- 

 mental aquatics. The solid part of the root 

 contains farinaceous matter, and, when 

 deprivod of its acrid properties by drying, 

 is eaten by the Kalmucks. From some 

 fanciful notion that the fearful disease 

 hydrophobia could be counteracted by 

 water-plants, Alisma was idly pitched on 

 as a specific by empirics, but is now no 

 longer in repute. Two other species occur 

 in Britain : one of these, A. natans, is a 

 floating plant, with larger flowers than 

 the common water plantain ; the other, 

 A. ranunculoides, is smaller in all its 

 parts, and possesses no attractive quali- 

 ties. [C. A. J.] 



ALISMACEJE (Alismoidece), a small group 

 of aquatic plants, with tripetaloid flowers 

 and superior ovaries, each containing only 

 one or two seeds. In some respects, al- 

 though endogens, they much resemble 

 ranunculaceous exogens, Ranunculus par- 

 nassifolius, having altogether the appear- 

 ance of an Alisma. Although for the 

 most part natives of the northern parts 

 of the world, some species of Sagitiaria 

 and Damasoniwm inhabit the tropics. 

 Alisma and Sagittaria have a fleshy rhi- 

 zome, which is eatable ; a species of 

 the latter genus, S. sinensis, is culti- 

 vated for food in China, although its 

 herbage is acrid. Various Brazilian Sagit- 

 tarias are very astringent; and their ex- 

 pressed juice is even employed in the pre- 

 paration of ink. The whole number of 

 species does not exceed litfty, divided among 

 the genera Alisma, Sagittaria, and Dama- 

 senium, which see. 



ALK. A gum-resin obtained in North 

 Africa from Pistacia Terebinthus. 



ALKANET. The root of Alkanna tinc- 

 toria, which is used as a dye. Also 

 applied in America to Lithospermum 

 I canescens. 



ALIAKOO An Indian tree, Memecylon | ALKANNA. A genus of Mediterranean 

 tinct oriu m, whose leaves are used for dyeing ; and Oriental Boraginacece, closely allied to 

 yellow. ; Litliospcrmuin, of which it perhaps ought 



The larger Algol were formerly much 

 employed in the manufacture of kelp. 

 More advanced chemical knowledge has, 

 however, entirely suspended the prac- 

 tice, carbonate of soda being now ob- 

 tained from other sources, to the great 

 detriment of many of the proprietors on 

 the sea-coasts of Scotland. They form 

 also a very valuable manure, and it has 

 lately been proposed by the writer of 

 this notice to manufacture a portable 

 manure from Algce partially dried and 

 then ground down with conical crushers, 

 the pulpy mass being mixed with peat 

 ashes and dried in strongly ventilated 

 sheds. 



Some of the lower Algce approach, as be- 

 fore observed, very near to moulds, and in 

 consequence many of these, when sub- 

 merged and barren, havo been assigned to 

 Algm. Such productions, however, as 

 yeast, and other matters which occur in 

 fermenting bodies, are now pretty well 

 understood, and are referred to a more 

 befitting place in the vegetable kingdom. 

 It is very doubtful whether any true alga 

 is parasitic on animals, those which have 

 been supposed to be so, as Sarcina, &c, 

 being in all probability Fungi. The curious 

 productions which grow on fish and other 

 aquatic animals, as Leptomitus, &c, are the 

 only exception, if, indeed, these also should 

 not be excluded. Algce extend to the ut- 

 most limits of vegetation, and some of 

 them are found at great depths in the sea. 

 The limits of the distribution of species 

 are not so extensive as in Fungi, though 

 some have a very wide range. Many fossil 

 species are described, but the nature of the 

 greater part is obscure. [M. J. B.] 



ALGAROBA BEAN. The fruit of Cera- 

 tonia Siliqua. Also applied to that of some 

 South American species of Prosopis. 



ALGAROYILLA. The seeds and husks 

 of Prosopis pallida, a tannin material ob- 

 tained from Chili. 



ALHAGI. An Arabic name applied to a 

 genus of Leguminosce, characterised by 

 having papilionaceous flowers in clusters, 

 the pod stalked, woody, contracted between 

 the seeds, but not dividing into separate 

 joints. The plants are shrubby, with sim- 

 ple leaves and spiny flower stalks, and in- 

 habit Southern Asia and Western Africa. 

 A manna-like substance is produced from 

 some of these plants in Persia and Bok- 

 hara, and is collected by merely shaking 

 the branches. It is an exudation from the 

 leaves and branches of the plant, only ap- 

 pearing in hot weather in the form of 

 drops which soon harden by exposure 

 to the air. Camels are very fond of it. 

 A. maurorum, the plant mentioned as 

 producing it, certainly does not do so in 

 India. The secretion is supposed by some 

 to be identical with the manna by which the 

 Israelites were miraculously fed. [M. T. M.] 



